# MOC · Sermon Notes ## Synthesis additions (2026-09-05 — homiletical principles that generalize to teaching and technical writing) - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/An Explanations Silence Gets Filled by the Audiences Prior]] — Sermon Brainwave 1103 on the day-laborers parable: an unnamed textual gap gets filled by the audience's default assumption ## Synthesis additions (2026-09-05 — prophetic preaching and pastoral confrontation) - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Confronting Wrong Without Believing Anyone Will Change Is Performance]] — Sermon Brainwave 1103: truth-telling without belief in the possibility of change is performance, not accountability ## Synthesis additions (2026-09-05 — reframing institutional critique around harm rather than character) - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Ask Who Was Harmed Not Whether Someone Was Wrong]] — Working Preacher's organizing question for Matthew 21's harsh parables — who gets hurt by hypocritical religion — converts a stalled character debate into an investigable claim. The weekly, embodied side of formation. `2. Areas/Sermon Notes/` holds **99 sermon notes** from St. John's United Church of Christ, running 2023-10 to the present. This MOC exists because [[Spiritual Formation and Discipleship MOC]] previously pointed at the *folder* rather than a note — a wikilink to `2. Areas/Sermon Notes` never resolves, because Obsidian wikilinks address notes, not directories. This is the addressable entry point. ## What's in there | Year | Notes | |---|---| | 2023 | 8 | | 2024 | 19 | | 2025 | 42 | | 2026 | 30 | Two formats coexist, and they are read differently: - **Analyzed notes (89)** — YAML-rich, produced by the transcript/analysis pipeline. The fullest ones carry `scripture_readings`, `themes`, `main_points`, `actionable_takeaways`, `prayer_points`, and a `logical_analysis` block that names reasoning strengths and any fallacies detected. [[2. Areas/Sermon Notes/2024-11-10 Restorers of the Breach]] is the reference example of the complete shape. - **Excalidraw notes (10)** — hand-drawn canvases with `excalidraw-plugin: parsed`, mostly 2026. These are visual sermon notes; the drawing is the content. ## How to browse - **`2. Areas/Sermon Notes/Sermon Archive.base`** — the Obsidian Base view over the folder, with table and sort by title / date / location / speaker / tags. Use this rather than scrolling the folder. (Referenced as a path, not a wikilink: `.base` files are not notes and a wikilink to one does not resolve.) - By **liturgical position** — 30 notes carry `liturgical_year`, `liturgical_season`, `liturgical_week`, and `liturgical_color`, which makes year-over-year comparison of the same Sunday possible. - By **observance** — 23 carry `christian_observances` and 22 `ecumenical_observances`. ## Where this connects - [[Spiritual Formation and Discipleship MOC]] — the practice frame. Sermons are the weekly input; that MOC holds what formation does with it over time. - [[Faith & Theology MOC]] — the curated thematic groupings and the analytical notes. Where a sermon raises a claim worth holding, the Permanent note lives there, not here. - [[MOC · United Church of Christ]] — denominational context for St. John's. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Stability Is the Precondition for Formation Across Domains]] — why the *weekly, same-place* character of this archive is the point rather than incidental; repetition in a stable setting is the mechanism. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Meaning About Suffering Belongs to the Sufferer]] — a preaching-ethics constraint worth reading against this archive: providence language in a sermon lands on people currently in the worst of it. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/The Wired Word for 07-05-2026]] — a civil-religion/church-state Bible study lesson tied to the 250th anniversary, general Protestant terrain adjacent to this archive's weekly formation. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Ordered Loves Resist Civil Religion]] — the claim drawn from that lesson. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1097 - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost]] — lectionary-podcast deep-read behind [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Meaning About Suffering Belongs to the Sufferer]], Literature Note backfilled. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/A Flattering Contrast Is Evidence of a Distorted Reading]] — the second claim (P2) pulled from that same episode. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1098 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost]] — lectionary-podcast deep-read behind the resistance-ethics claim, Literature Note backfilled. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Absence of Testimony Indicates Absence of Invitation]] — the first claim (P1) pulled from that same episode. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Genesis 181–8 — Abraham Welcomes Three Visitors]] — thin hospitality source passage, part of a four-passage Wired Word lesson set. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Matthew 712 — The Golden Rule]] — companion passage in the same hospitality lesson set, too thin to stand alone. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Matthew 2531–46 — The Judgment of the Nations]] — companion passage carrying a distinct accountability claim, promoted separately. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Care for the Vulnerable Functions as a Discipleship Accountability Test]] — the accountability-mechanism claim promoted from that passage. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Hebrews 131–6 — Hospitality to Strangers]] — the philoxenia passage in the same hospitality set, held as a fragment rather than promoted. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1099 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 30, 2026]] — lectionary-podcast deep-read with a full Refactor Appendix. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Cross-Bearing Is Communal Practice Not Individual Endurance]] — the communal self-denial claim from that episode. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Disorganized Good Cannot Match Organized Evil]] — the organized-good claim from that episode, also relevant to [[Commons & Community Governance MOC]]. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1091 - Sixth Sunday after Pentecost]] — backfilled Literature Note for an episode two Permanent notes already drew on. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Sin Operates as a Power Working Through Intentional Systems]] — the Romans 7 systemic-power claim newly captured from that episode. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1093 - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost]] — lectionary-podcast deep-read, Literature Note backfilled behind an existing Permanent note. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/The Kingdom of God Is Preached Chiefly Through Natural-World Imagery]] — the parable-imagery claim (P1) pulled from that same episode. - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Sermon Brainwave 1100 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost - September 6, 2026]] — Matthew 18:15-20 church-discipline deep-read, Literature Note backfilled behind an existing Permanent note. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Church Discipline's Exclusion Step Implies Hope of Restoration]] — the restoration-after-exclusion claim from that same episode. ## Related concept pages - [[Deconstruction]] — what happens when the formation these sermons assume comes apart - [[Eschatology]] — the "how does this end" question the liturgical year keeps circling - [[Pentecostalism]] — the tradition St. John's is not, and the contrast that clarifies it - [[2. Areas/Wellness/Spiritual/Spiritual Disciplines]] — the individual practices alongside the corporate ones ## Metadata — normalized 2026-08-01 - **Speaker names normalized.** 12 variants collapsed to 3 real people: `Rev. Caroline E. Saxton` (43), `Patric Garsch` (8), `Pastor Nelson Vazquez` (1). Previously included `Patrick Patric Garsch`, `Pastor Caroline`, `Caroline`, `Caroline Saxton`, `Pastor Caroline Saxton`, `Rev. Caroline Saxton`, and `Pastor Caroline E. Saxton` as separate values, which defeated grouping in the Base view. - **Two unfilled template placeholders removed** — one literal `Speaker's Name`, one `{{speaker}}`. - **`speaker` back-filled from `pastor`** on 34 notes. Coverage went 20% → **52%**. Worth recording a correction: `pastor` and `speaker` are *not* simply competing keys for one field. `pastor` is the settled congregational pastor (32× `Rev. Caroline E. Saxton`) while `speaker` is who actually preached that Sunday, including guests. Back-filling was safe because zero notes carried both; `pastor` was left in place rather than deleted. ## Needs human eyes - **47 notes still have no speaker or pastor** — mostly the Excalidraw canvases and the sparser 2023–24 entries. Nothing to derive one from; needs a human who was there. - **Field coverage is still uneven** below `speaker`: `title` 91%, `date` 68%. Dates in particular would improve the Base view's sort. - **`themes` vs `theme`** are both in use (26 notes use `theme`, a handful use `themes`). Left alone deliberately — picking one is a schema decision, not a typo fix. - **4 files have no parseable frontmatter** and were untouched by the normalization.